Raising Mixed Race: Multiracial Asian Children in a Post-Racial World (New Critical Viewpoints on Society)

This is a very heavy and almost painful read.Being a first generation immigrant from Asia myself, this book was my first read on the topic of race. The most important thing for me to learn from this book is that RACE IS A BELIEF SYSTEM. I personally had been struggling with the feeling of being a "forever foreigner" (even after getting the US citizenship), "inadequate", and all sorts of stereotyping from media, coworkers, and even my own family. I love the fact that this book presents the definition of race for me early on in the text. It freed me!The author penetrated very deep into what we might consider daily norms in our languages, gestures, "opinions" about people of colors, and the systemic suppression / injustice brought onto us by those daily, trivial things that acutally persistently and subtly reinforce the white supremacy frame around us.One might think the research the book was based upon was of a small sample space. However, reading into the text would convince him/her that the observations/phenomena are very common that most people of colors can relate to.It invokes a ton of questions and thinking about racial issues in the US and world-wide. Although I don't have a mixed child, I still found this book very relevant to parents of colors by hightening our awareness, which is the first thing needed to a much bigger family/social change.

This book made a lot of good points about some of the conversations our children will hear at home and outside of the home and the potentially harmful effects of these conversations and ideas, but the book spent so much time making the point that racism still exists today, which shouldn't really be a huge surprise to anyone, and is far too short of offering solutions. So, we accept there is a problem, sometimes in the home, sometimes in public spaces, now what are we supposed to do about that? Talk to our kids, be fair an open and give them strategies to combat these negative and misleading ideas...but no real concrete mention of these strategies, no really detailed or significant helpful hints for parents working to coach their kids in navigating these issues as they grow up.

Several other reviews mention that this book should be required reading for parents of multiracial Asian children or anyone with children in their lives. I completely agree. I would also go one step further and say that it should be required reading for expanding and deepening one's knowledge and understanding of white privilege and systemic racism. As a white parent of two multiracial Asian children, I found Chang's book deeply helpful, as well as humbling. I am grateful to have it, and have no doubt I will continue to refer back to it frequently over the coming years (I have many passages dog-eared and underlined). Chang says, "Talking about racial identities means we have to talk about how we look and are valued through a white lens," and "constant and deep critique is the surest way to erode" {the race power hierarchy}. My goal after reading the book is to keep both of those actions at the forefront of my consciousness. As a parent, the book has caused me to think more deeply about what my children are experiencing and will experience and about ways I may be blind (particularly as a white parent) to the white racist frame that we live in. It has also made made me more determined both to continue to develop my own awareness as well as to find ways to help our children become aware of the white racist system, resist, develop strong, positive multiracial identities, and thrive. Not an easy or simple task, but such an important one - both for our own children, and for future generations.

I’m so thankful a friend pointed out this book to me. As a mom of three mixed race Asian kids, this is just what I needed. Here’s what stood out for me:Learning/reviewing the historical development of race and racism. This helped me see how many different ideas and judgments were formed and “white” became the “standard.” Ideas and judgments that I was shocked and saddened to see in myself.Discovering how ideas of race touch and damage children at a young age. Parents don’t want to talk about this, but we need to talk about this. I have heard people compare the color of my children’s skin. I have heard them say things like, “mixed kids are the most beautiful.” I’ve heard other horrifying and seemingly wonderful things. I wasn’t sure what to say to my kids about this. I didn’t think I had to talk to them about race. I was wrong. This book gave me the courage to start.Knowing we can do something to help bring about a true post-racial world. We have to. This book features snippets of interviews from mixed race couples. Many of the stories are so depressing—seeing the racism in all of us and knowing how it hurts our kids. Fortunately, in the last chapter, Chang includes many tools (points of intervention) on how to help our kids form a healthy racial identity in a racist system.If you have, know, and love mixed race Asian kids, you need to read this book. Changing a deeply racist society seems to be an impossible task. But this book gives us a place to start. Don’t wait.

Some background: I'm a mixed race Mediterranean/Anglo Saxon white and my daughter is mixed Taiwanese. The book gives good arguments and examples as to what being non white in the US means and how it's covertly expressed. That being said the author seems to be skipping these points. 1- this is more of a typical dynamic of majority vs minority rather than a white thing. The same patterns exist in China and even Taiwan where a certain class of people have more privileges and don't share even if one is mixed. 2- being accepted in white culture is not the be all end all. Personally I do find their culture a bit boring and enjoy the Mediterranean cultures as well as getting access to other non Anglo Saxon cultures. Overall it was interesting but the author places too much value on the whiteness and on white culture in general